Prodigy
by Constinople
Summary: Why have the genius of the world choosen to hide their abilities. And where are they. Well... a mild mannered story of a child prodigy and her battle against the goverment
1. Prodigy

Prodigy


	2. Chapter 2

Sessley 21

People are animals of habit. They are like ants celebrating mediocrity. Every now and then someone comes along who is able to see in from the outside. A minority by our self we disguise ourselves as normal people. At first people feared us. We corrupted their system of uniformity. Now they treat us like carnival freak, entertaining them by exhausting our gifts. It you refuse to show off for them they grind you down. They smother you until you have joined the long line of ants going down into the big dark hole. But why have the genius of the world choose to hide their abilities. And where are they. Well…….

You come into my story as I board a plane heading anywhere but where I am. The sky is clear and blue. The seats are maroon and burgundy. I sit in my seat and listen to the instructions coming from the black speakers. Finally, we take off and I feel as if the world is being lifted off my back. I look out my window and breathe in sharply. Those colors. The soft pink swirling in with the peach and the blue reminded me of an old possession I had. I reach back and touch the tie in my hair. They were the colors of my first blanket.

I look up at the magenta ceiling of my bedroom. My mother comes in and picks me up and I giggle. She is surprised. It is un-normal for a baby to be giggling at this age. My parents recognized my genius immediately. First they tested it out in their home. When I was reading at age three they presented me to the world. I admit it was fun. People paid my parents to let them test me and study at their colleges. All before the age of eight. I was a child prodigy. I enjoyed the fame.

I was ten when I learned that a gift can be a curse as well. Up until this point I had been the smartest person I knew. It was in a small project run by some scientist and professors that I met some one who could match my skill. This in my mind was amazing. However smart I was I was still a child and could be fooled easily. I was living in a world that the adults around me created. They were my only source of information and knowing this they manipulated me. This kid taught me to use my genius for my self. He opened up a whole new world for me.

I remember coming into the room and seeing him already sitting down reading a huge book. He looked up and I caught his eyes. His grey eyes were full of wisdom I could feel it pulsing through my heart. Years passed in that moment. His gaze was interrupted as someone pushed some papers in his face and another stack of books were slammed down to replace the one he had just finished. I could see his reluctance as he read a sheet of paper while professors and scientist practically screamed at him like the paparazzi. He looked up again at me and I felt dozens of hands pushing me into the next room.

I was hooked up to all kinds of machines as book after book was shoved in my face. They demanded I solve thousands of math and science problems. Finally I complained of being hungry. Not hearing my plea dozens of hands ushered me into another room.

He was coming in another door from across the room. Again our eyes met. They sat him across the room facing me. I couldn't help looking up at him as the professor droned on and on. We caught eyes a couple times. Then I found my self staring at him. He looked up and we both smiled. A loud yell of reprimanding startled us both back to our work.

We were left by ourselves to eat. He ate alone, ignoring me.

"Hi……….What's your name……..Hey"

"I don't have a name……..My parent never named me" I was confused.

"Why not. Why didn't you give your self a name?" It was perplexing why this kid gave me no attention. Why was he ignoring me? I was being friendly enough. Suddenly he grabbed me pulling me down to face him.

"Beware of the government."

"The government?"

"Men in black suits I see it all the time they will take you from your parents"

"a whaaaah" he pulled us down to the ground.

"They will eventually take you. When ever you get a chance research the name Joey Bismillah. Then you will understand." He snapped his head at the sound of approaching feet.

"Trust me okay"

Grabbing me by the shoulders he pulled me into a kiss just as the door opened. Scientist and professors stared awed. I pulled away embarrassed.

The rest of the month was the same test and shoving. My every move and comment was written down. I studied this nameless boy's face and pondered his warning. He always looked serious he did his work with dryness not the excitement I had at solving a new problem. Late in the night hours after they sent me to sleep I could hear them still running test on him. The month ended and he was dragged into a black car and disappeared out of my life.


	3. Chapter 3

I went back home to my parents. My head hurt from all the strenuous tests. For a while I was contempt to be back in my sheltered world but that boy kept coming back to me. Not finding Joey Bismillah on a regular search engine I started hacking. Joey was another child prodigy like me. He disappeared at the age of fifteen. Then I found him again in some government program. It was like he was sold to the government. I went deeper and found his name again in another file. It was attached to another file. Julienne Franklin. A picture of the boy shot up on the screen but before I could react I was being hacked by another hacker. I managed to save a bit of the nameless boys file to a disk before redirecting the hacker to some computer in Germany.

The file had next to nothing. It stated his parents and his measurements at birth. There was no name. I deleted the empty space beneath and stored the disk in a drawer.

After that incident I began paying more attention. There is nothing like loosing your innocence. It leaves you empty.

Eventually men in black suits began appearing, having adult time meetings with my parents. I wired the living room and one day coming home from the park I saw the black cars in the driveway. I ran up to my room. Throwing my soccer ball to the floor I reached under my pillow and adjusted the speaker.

"I don't know honey that's a lot of money"

"It will be like sending her to boarding school"

"George! It would be like selling her. We can't do this to her. We are not doing this to her."

The sound of them bickering led to the first decision I made on my own. I ran away. With a back pack full of supplies I looked around my childhood room. On my bed I saw my first blanket. It was my security blanket. A pang went through my body. I stuff it into my bag. I climbed down the tree outside my window. The lowest branch was far from the ground and when I jumped I lost my balance and stumbled to the ground. My hip was throbbing.


	4. Chapter 4

Bzzzzzzzz…….Bzzzzzzzzzzz……. Bzzzzzzzz…….Bzzzzzzzzzzz

Reaching down to her hip a petite brunette girl searched for the source of the throbbing. She picked up a cell phone.

"Hello…………No……….No………I'm sure………..Yes, I know…………..Bye."

The rattling of the stewardess snack tray stopped beside the girl.

"Ma'am would you like some peanuts." The girl looked over at the tray and saw a Dole bottle.

The sound of engines and people roared from off the street. She looked up and said.

"What"

"Would you like some peanuts? I've got some juice too. I hope you like Ruby Red."

When I first saw the kid I just had to help. She looked lost and scared. Most newcomers on the street are.

"Sure" she said

I gave her the nuts and juice. She ate everything delicately.

"So kid what's your name" I said leaning sown to get a better look at her. She hesitated.

"Jamie"

"Oh, okay! My names Lani. How old are ya Jay me"

"Just turned eleven a month back."

"Cool. I'm turning seventeen in a week. How long you been on the street."

"two weeks today" She said it excited.

"Hmmm. Well, ya hungry Jamie"

I stood and motioned for her to follow. What could happen from helping a newbie on the streets?

Like a dog I fed the kid and she followed me home. She was there when I picked up my little siblings. She was there when I worked my shift at the diner. By the time I got to my night jog I had forgotten about her.

"Lani you were supposed to be twenty mi... Hey who's the cute chick?"

I froze dropping my raggedy sweat jacket in the closet.

"She's a virgin. Aren't you? Hey honey, give me a kiss" she gave me a scared look.

"Man, leave my sister alone." She gives me a big smile. "I just had to bring her along. She's not here to work."

He left her alone and I left her staring off the balcony, watching one of the most popular local bands.

A few months later the same smile woke me up in the morning.

"Lani I already dropped of Katy and Skyler at school."

"Hmm Wha?" I grunt rising up from the ground. I open my eyes to see her bright cheerful face. Her long brown hair was all tangled and her face dirty from sleeping on the ground.

"Come on so we'll have time to go to the library."

She starts pulling me up

"Jamie, you don't know how…. How much I need you"

We spend the morning at the library. She reads so much. We leave two tables filled with books that she read for fun. I know the librarian loves her. They talk about the books. I can't understand a word. I usually just read a magazine while they smile and giggle at each other like they know a secret that no one else knows.

Most of the day is spent looking for odd jobs. I go to my steady job at 1:00 and get off around 4:00. Jamie helps me by picking up my little brother and sister and taking care of them till I get off work and we head to my band practice. The guys in my band warmed up to Jamie fast. She is so cute and petite. When I take her and my siblings to the movies I always say: "Three children tickets and one adult please" She can work miracles too. Somehow she can get us in the most impossible gigs.

I remember the last night I saw her. We had come home from a block party. I was drunk high. I asked her if she really wanted to get high and she was completely sure. I only let her get a buzz though. Anyway, I broke into a warehouse to spend the night. We were both sitting leaning against a wall, just talking. Then she just stopped.

"Lani they're coming for me to take me back"

"What, who"

"Don't worry"

"Jamie, why did you run away in the first place?"

"I was running away from being given away. My parents were about to trade me in for money so I left."

"That's deep. My dad opened the front door one night and threw me out, literally and said don't come back………. I remember that day."


	5. Chapter 5

Dad takes another swing at me. All he does now that mom gone is get drunk. I'm the only source of income in the house. I manage to feed my self and my brother and sister. To pay the bills I had to borrow money from Ricky. He's gonna want that back. A fist lands right on my chin and sends me flying. I'm angry at him because he does nothing to help our condition. I can only work part-time until I'm fifteen and can legally drop out. My dad usually gets his frustration out on me but today it's like the fairy tale where a little girl has a pot that cooks when you say a magic word and another to make it stop. The only problem is no one knows the magic word for my dad. My little siblings come home and he goes after them. I lose it and the next thing I know I'm eating concrete and the doors slamming behind me.

I was scared. I looked just like Jamie did when I first met her. Acting normal I went to school because you had to be fifteen to legally drop out and my job. After I dropped out I made ends meet by working a lot of odd jobs. I still had two people to take care of. Things started to look up after a while. The owner of the diner I worked at caught me swiping food and gave me a longer shift with a free meal at the end. At one of my odd jobs I was caught fooling around with a drum set and drafted into a newly formed band. I was good but my band mates complained.

"Dude you're so serious all the time you need to loosen up. It shows in your music"

They just didn't understand. I had obligations.

Then I met Jamie and I could finally relax. She watched my sibs for me and even got caught a couple times by my dad but she toughed it out. With her I had someone to tell my problems to. My hopes, my dreams, my worries, she lessoned the weight from my shoulders. She even helped the band. They warmed up to her really quick. Even though she's just a kid she can be so grown at times. She can get us the most impossible gigs. She's amazing

"Jamie I wrote a song about you….. Jamie"

I look over and she's asleep. I want to wake her but that's an unforgivable crime when you're a street kid. I want to tell her how I felt the poetry run through my veins and how my fingers itched to write it down. She would love the song. The band loved the song. We practiced it so we could play it tomorrow on her birthday. In the morning I leave her a note telling her to come to the performance tonight.

She never came. That song went on to become a big hit. It was the beginning of a climbing career. We would become huge and wealthy, known world wide.

I give all the credit to of my fortune to Jamie. She came when I needed her and left when I could stand on my own. She must have been an angel. If not she definitely fooled me.


	6. Chapter 6

Jamie pushed away a lock of brown hair behind her ear. She yawned and drifted to sleep only to be awakened by some one shaking her shoulder. She looked up into the blurry image of a boy with black hair.

Some one is shaking me. I open my eyes.

"You!"

Pair of familiar grey eyes stare down into mine.

"I told you they would come they took longer than usual"

He was ranting to himself

"That's because they couldn't find me I ran away"

He spun around and his eyes were huge. He came at me like a madman.

"Good you can think for yourself." He turns away and talks to his self again. "This moves my plan forward." He spins around and grabs my shoulders.  
"You're lucky I kissed you or you'd be all alone. How long were you missing"

I push his hands off my shoulders. He's hurting them and looking at me like he's insane.

"About two years…. Yeah, a year because Lanis' birthday is in…… Hey what's the date?"

He laughs "there are no dates here. Do your parents know you're here?"

"I don't know" I explode moving across the small room. "I was tracked down and tranquilized like a wild animal and woke up here." I turn around just as his arms wrap around me.

"Sorry……….This place can make you crazy."

He pulls back. "So where am I" I say looking around the empty grey room save for two grey cots. He gives me a look makes believe he is insane and laughs and I believe he has gone mad.

You" he chuckles "are in a rat cage"

"Excuse me, excuse me, ESCUSE ME!"

My eyes focus and I can see the boy clearly.

"Can you hand me my ball."

I look in the direction that he is pointing at. On the floor standing out on the green and orange carpet is a light baby blue ball.

"Sure"

As I hand the kid the ball I see something I didn't see before about the ball. Instantly I retract into myself and stare at my hand, feeling the burn. Grey.

I knew the government would catch me one day. But I never knew the extent to their evil. They color of the room the color of everything in this, place, and became the color of my life. I woke up everyday to same bleakness, the same sorrowful color. They same grey food fed me almost daily. The same grey clothes were worn everyday. The same grey floors, the blankets, the pillows. My only escape was my dreams but soon the grey began to take over them as well. The days were irregular. Mostly of the time was spent locked in our grey room. I was lucky. I had a companion to keep me sane. To imagine myself locked in this grey world all by alone, worth nothing more than a lab rat to the people who ran you life was impossible.

I gave the boy a name since he didn't have one. I could tell he was happy. He wanted a simple name. One that was common and had no special meaning or history. So Josh became his name. I had met this josh while living on the streets. He was really shy and the boy reminded me off him.

Mostly we talked. I told him how it was to live on the outside. He liked the most, my stories of when I lived on the street.

I think I sat in that room almost a month. Every now and again the monotony would be broken by a drawer with two bowls sliding out the wall. You had a minute to get your food then the drawers would close. Sometimes people would come in and take Josh away. Then I would practically go mad with boredom alone in the room. There were actually two rooms. There was a one person bathroom with a shower. Josh and I took turns. The showers were timed and luke warm. You put your cloths on a counter and it turns into the wall and comes out with a fresh set.

One time josh came back and said. "you've been here for a month and a half."

I was lying on my cot starring at the grey ceiling. I jumped up and rushed to him.

"What! How did you find out? Who told you! How…."

He just brushed right passed me and collapsed on his cot. I fumed while he slept. I was so angry and impatient I almost cried. Finally he woke up and I rushed to him again. He yawned.

"I learned it from the outside. It was some study, a lot of math. One of the guys left their planner open. I not sure because I don't know when you came.

I knew she wanted to get out of the room. She sat down at my feet with a defeated look. I lived to see her smile. I liked not always being alone.

Hey guess what I got."

I pulled out a leaf. Her eyes lit up and she gave me a smile. I watch her obsess over the leaf for a long time. Then she rolled it up and slid it into the space left from the cloth of the cot wrapping around its frame. I rubbed my hand through my hair. I was happy when she was happy.

"Oof"

I looked down at her arms wrapped around my waist. I love it when she hugs me. No one else has ever treated me the way she does. I slide off my cot and return the hug and we hold each other. I never wanted to see someone like I did her. I like when she tells stories. She's so animated and gives vivid descriptions. Suddenly an official and two transporters walk on us. I push her away roughly and we stare at the floor in front of us. I see the official raise an eyebrow out the corner of my eye. No one moves for a while. then the two transporters grab me by my arms. Jamie shoots me a sad Goodbye look. Then unexpectedly two pair of hands grab her as well. He give look at each other reading each others thoughts as blind folds are being yanked over our eyes.

I was uncoordinated. I couldn't tell which way I was going. The next thing I knew the blindfold was talked off and I was in a large room with about fifty other kids of all ages standing in columns and rows. Someone grabbed me and ushered me into a row. I started to look around when I heard Joshes' voice say.

Stand up straight and keep your head down."

"QUIET!" a woman in a red jumpsuit barked at Josh. I immediately obeyed josh. A voice coming from my right yelled fifty jumping jacks. It was the beginning of the most strenuous work outs I ever went through.


	7. Chapter 7

Jamie walked into the waiting room of the airport. She looked at everyone around her. Already carrying her only bag she walked pass the other passengers waiting for their baggage. Outside waiting for an available taxi cab she stared at the blue sky. Finally she slid into a cab. As she was closing the door a red haired woman came running up to the cab.

"Would you mind sharing a cab? I have a meeting and I'm already late."

"Sorry I can't"

She closed the cab door and they drove off. Jamie watched the Woman catch a cab with a square shouldered businessman.

After that point they started taking Jamie as well as me. It was Mostly for our Exercises. There were physical exercises and mental exercises. Things were different. Instead of Jamie and me reading with the others in small single grey cubicles, Jamie and I were given books to complete in our room. We grey close. I didn't see it the clues. Only one bowl of food came to our room forcing us to share. We had to share our books and outline them together. Only one blanket was there to help us against the cold.

Soon the city turned into country. The beautiful landscape reminded Jamie of a garden. She looked down at a purple flower on her finger.

I knew very little about anything other than the grey. I only got to see the world through books. One day two transporters came to get me and led me to a white room. I was amazed dazzled. I had never known the grey had white room. Someone else was in the room but I couldn't see him because of the directions the lights were shinning.  
"Josh. That's what she calls you isn't it"

"yes" I said curtly.

"you understand the circumstances of your birth don't you."

"yes"

"We have decided to pair you and Jamie together."

I froze. I didn't want to have a child who would never know anything outside the grey walls.

"you should be honored. Jamie ranks second to you in intelligence. Think of the child you two will conceive. You will be able to live in the world. Together you and Jamie to raise you child…. Do you understand? You could go to the outside.

"Outside. Yes the thought of outside is appealing but has a high price. Jamie and I will be on a leash for the rest of our lives and everything we have you will own including our children. I couldn't do that to a child. Let alone my own child."

The room got dark.

"you will be responsible for relaying the information to Jamie. There are two ways we can do this josh.

The next thing I knew I was waking up in my room. Jamie was sleeping on my chest. I didn't wake her I just stared at her dreading what would come in the future.

She opened her eyes and gave me a sleepy smile. I sighed

"Jamie…"

I hated the dreaded look on her face when I explained what they wanted us to do. We did love each other but we never had thought to bring a child into the kind of world we were living in. It was horrible. Your every decision made for you. You were treated like soft ware. To love a child tenderly and then send it into a world where it was always cold and gray. The grey is what we hated the most.


	8. Chapter 8

When Josh finished I just got up and curled into a ball in the corner. How could I have not noticed the signs? They knew we like each other and pushed us together until like turned into love. Then they bring this new dilemma. It hurt us both. We couldn't look at each other without sadness. They left us together for what seemed like an eternity. Finally josh said.

"If we cooperated we will get to live in the outside world. The child will know something other than the grey walls. If we don't cooperate you could become another experiment."

It was decided. We were transported separately. We woke up together in a house. The house was three stories. With the house came time. I had lost my sense of time in that grey dungeon. The best thing was TV and the radio. I learned that I had been living in that grey for four years. I had to teach Josh about the things that I had missed so much. He had never seen anything outside a lab, classroom or the grey. the government didn't pressure us at all.

Josh after watching a show on TV, bent on one knee and asked me to marry him. Then he slid a ring made out of grass, and a flower. The purple was so pretty I cried and said yes. Eventually we grew into a comfortable state and forgot all about the government. That changed when my stomach grew. At that time any thought of the government was pushed far back into our minds. We were enjoying ourselves.

Our rude awakening was when the twins were born. Of course they were birth in a government facility. They didn't exist to anyone of the outside world. Looking down at my children I realized that we were not truly outside. We were still in the center of the governments' control. Josh and I began planning our escape.

A moonless knight we disappeared with our twins. I remember making it passed miles of government regulated lands. Then there is a blank period. We reached a road and hitched a ride with a trucker praying it was not the government. Then there is a blank period. For two months we completely dropped off the map by living as a homeless family. Then there is a blank period. Slowly we made our way to California where I had a friend who could help. We managed to kill Lanes' security system and he almost blew when he found us on his patio in the morning. When all was revealed we carefully planned our move from there.

The car pulls into the driveway of a huge mansion. Jamie pay the driver and then turns to look at the huge house.

"I love South America, their houses are so beautiful." She whispers.

Maids meet her at the front door. She greets them. It has been a while since she last saw them. She is too tired to eat so she just sleeps to kill time.

Someone is shaking her shoulder. She rises up and looks around the empty grey room. She yawns and stretches. She blinks. Familiar grey eyes stare happily into her sleepy blue ones. They embrace and Josh points to the crib behind him Jamie gets up and looks down at the little brunette toddler. Jamie kisses the baby and then heads back to her own bed still tired. Josh climbs in after her and they fall asleep holding each other.

For a few days it is quiet. Josh and Jamie relax by the pull and enjoy the garden. Most of their time is spent in their library for recreational reading. Two weeks after they arrive they find them selves sunning by the pool. The sliding door opens and a swarm of kids run out and jump into the pool ending the peace. Josh gets up and Jamie looks down at the brunette toddler tugging at her shirt.

"Hey Lani. How was Hawaii with the kids?" Josh says shaking Lanes' hand

"It was a hand full but I survived." Just as he finished two black haired children ran pass his legs.

"Oh and here they are the starts of this show. Those two are partners in crime. Just think of how it will be when little Aden joins them. My wife will be here this evening. She took Molly shopping."

Josh chuckled.

"I can't imagine our kids as teenagers." Josh looks over at his three kids swarming over their mother.

"Aziza, Razi do you want to feel your new baby sister." Says Jamie

They answer yes in unison and rub Jamies' swollen belly. After a while of probing their mothers belly. A kid from the pool calls to them and they join the other children. Lani and Josh sit next to Jamie and laugh at their kids enjoying them while they are young.

Aziza and Razi are six now. Their names together mean Beloved Secret. Aden is three and there is another on the way. My wife can keep saying it's a girl but I just know it's a boy. I don't know if the government has really lost us. Sometimes I think this is one of their big experiments. That they watching us this very moment. I don't think about it or at least I try not to. We still have to be cautious. Where we'll be further down the line I don't know. The only way to survive is to trust your own logic. All I know is that right now, we're all happy.


End file.
